Spiked Strawberry Bites
Yep. I did. I truly turned into 5 years old with this one. Well minus the whole alcohol part. Strawberries are in season and I wanted to take full advantage so I picked up some of nature’s edible armor. Strawberries look like they are always ready to battle with their chain link pattern of seeds, but this guy was no match for what I had in store for it…I got it drunk.
strawberry mugshot
tough guy was no match for the blender either…
strawberry guts
After a quick trip to the blender, I took the strawberry guts for a night on the town…we painted the town red..[hardy har har...lame joke]. I was ordering strawberry guts shots of this wonderful whipped cream vodka that absolutely tastes like whipped cream, it’s light with a subtle vanilla flavor. I then threw strawberry guts a party and put on their most special birthday suit…SPRINKLES!
spiked strawberry bite
the entire bite is in cupcake form…
blue strawberry bite friend
strawberry bite party
I had leftover Lemonilla and mixed some of that into a handful of the bites..and me oh my what a combo! Here are the parental units of that pairing…
Spiked Strawberry and Lemonilla
one last outfit…
Spiked Strawberry on a Lemon Cupcake
This strawberry is quite the model…next is a training session with Tyra.
Lemonilla
I’m naming this one “Lemonilla” because it’s like a nice dinosaur that roams your mouth and leaves a large refreshing footprint. (If T-Rex knew about this ice cream, he would have been a lot nicer and less roar-y.) Still loving springtime, I wanted to pay homage to mother nature for her simple goodie bag treats, lemons and vanilla.
Lemonilla Face
It’s a basic vanilla bean base with fresh lemon juice and creamy like the milky way…
Lemonilla: a stand up citizen
What I like the most about this flavor is how calming it is, it tastes like a breezy Sunday afternoon, free of stress, responsibilities and agendas. The lemon isn’t there to startle you because the vanilla has a giant bear hug on it and the two are just swinging in the breeze. They get along so well they made baby lemonillas on top of mini nilla wafer cookies…
Lemonilla Bites
The flavor doesn’t go extinct which is my favorite part, it lingers for awhile reminding you to relax. Sign.me.up.
Tipsy Citrus Sorbet
I always had a thing for Bill Nye the Science Guy…know why? I love science! Science is very much a large component to ice cream making which is another reason why I love it. Science comes into play heavily with sorbet making because it’s figuring out the right balance between sugar and water. Sorbet itself is really easy to make but if you want a nice consistency and texture then strap on your goggles and fire up the Bunsen burner. (don’t)
Another culinary treat based on science is wine. I recently went to Napa Valley and picked up some bottles of white wine to experiment with….DOUBLE SCIENCE!
Ledson Orange Muscat
Orange Muscat Mugshot
When I tasted this wine, the synapses in the brain yelled “CITRUS. NOW.” I obliged and like the Beastie Boys, I wrangled up a trio of citrus fruits that I thought would pair (and rap) well together.
Grapefruit Mugshot
Tangerine Mugshot
Lemon Mugshot
I used a healthy 1/2 cup of wine because I wanted the muscat to come through and not just use it as a sorbet softener. The rest was up to the citrus trio which all played well together and I have to say to this is my new favorite sorbet flavor. It’s extremely refreshing for a spring day and I didn’t really want to share it with others but I sorta did.
Tipsy Citrus
(yes it is served in a frozen tangerine peel cup)
The texture is SPOT ON. It’s actually CREAMY which makes me squirm with excitement! Thank you science, you know how to make a girl grin. (the wine helps too)
Nutella Eggs
I remember Easter egg hunts well, a.k.a. elbowing other peers to find that golden egg full of jelly beans, quarters and lint. These hunts were like an episode straight out of Murder She Wrote… suspense, drama, typewriters, inquisitive eyes, etc. I also remember my mother dressing me in a lace dress, bonnet and white gloves. Times have changed a bit, but Easter egg hunts should never stop…at any age…….ENTER NUTELLA EGGS.
Nutella egg with shark fin
This flavor started as a birthday gift for a friend then morphed into an Easter inspired giveaway. My goal was to make the ice cream thick and creamy like nutella’s natural state..except cold and swirled with dulche de leche. I don’t usually use a lot of ingredients but I figured the easter bunny wouldn’t mind so it was a medley of nutella, chocolate, Bailey’s, vanilla extract, salt, egg yolks and the trio of fun, sugar, milk, and cream. How creamy was this you ask?
Spoon Blanket
I had an easter egg of my own to add to this blend…dulche de leche.
dulche de leche swirls
The Easter bunny was a little lazy so I took over and filled eggs with the nutella mixture and my hiding spot wasn’t that suspenseful…Angela Lansbury would have figured it out in about 2 minutes, [insert: dramatic reenactment of events leading up to a scene of me storing the eggs in the freezer].
Nutella Eggs
Nutella Eggs
Spring Violet
I recently discovered how much I really enjoy this season, I think it’s because living in SF is like a permanent state of spring. Flowers are indicative of spring so why not test out edible flowers like candied violet petals!
candied violet mugshot
To make these, you just get violet leaves, drench them in sugar and let them dry. They are extremely crunchy and flavorful, they taste like a calm high five, they are excited and eager but yet soothing in delivery.
Candied Violet Petals
For my base I made a vanilla bean and lemon starter kit. (It’s true, I use vanilla for everything because I have a huge crush on it). I was curious to see how the ‘nilla would play along with the violet and it seemed to work nicely, the lemon didn’t really come through a whole lot but I only used a half of one. (I think) The texture was soft and creamy and I didn’t use any egg yolks because I’m a thug.
Spring Violet
Spring Violet
(yes I took a billion pictures because it’s purple)
Spring Violet
Sorbange
“Sorbange” sounds very insurance-y but it’s what we are going to go with. It’s spring! In SF that doesn’t mean much temperature wise, but it does mean NO. MORE. RAIN! March is the new April here and it pours buckets, but it looks like that (fingers crossed) has passed so it’s time for some spring flavors! Spring to me mean is all about smells more than the temperature. Not so much in SF but growing up I always loved the smell of spring…the grass, the way the pavement smelled after months of snow sitting on it like a couch potato. Loved it. So for my rendition of spring I turn to what else, orange.
Left: Farmer's Market Right: Whole Foods
I can’t tell you the difference between coffee blends or if you should buy or lease a car, but I can pick out juicy oranges. As you can see above the one on the left is smaller, and the skin is smoother with less dinosaur-looking creases…you want this. As much as you want to get your bang for your buck, the smaller one is going to pack more juices because it’s smaller real estate. (It’s like Snooki from the Jersey shore, she’s short and packs a lot of ‘tude up in that leopard spandex ensemble.) Next is the “smooth” factor, the skin is smoother because it’s juicer and the juices push the skin out…I have zero scientific evidence of this, it’s just the synapses in my brain who are forcing me to type that.
I mimicked my method of freezing fruit and then blending it to get that cool and creamy texture I so long for in sorbet. I then added my trick (not anymore) of adding soju because it’s pretty flavorless and will aid in keeping the sorbet from completely freezing. How did we do?
Sorbange
Shirley Temple Bunny Bites
I wish more accidents went like this one. I was trying to make a completely different ice cream sandwich for a gathering and needless to say my batch was not going to be done in time. I had made Shirley Temple Sorbet a few days prior so I had that chillin’ in the freezer with no plans except to enjoy it myself. Fast forward to when I went to the store and came across these festive bunny face head cookies.
Bunny Cookie Collage
To my pleasant surprise, sorbet is 1.87654 billion times easier to make a sandwich with vs. ice cream. I’m still somewhat struggling on a cohesive sammie making process. I’ve tried various formats, and still run into issues. Nonetheless, I have found that sorbets are a sammie’s knight in shining armor. They mesh wonderfully, and sorbet is incredibly easy to mold in the cookie. In addition to the flexibility, sorbet doesn’t melt nearly as fast as ice cream does, so it was nice to not have to rush. The cookies were on the harder side so upon a chomp, the sorbet would squeeze out the edges. Wasn’t too pumped about that but it comes with the territory, these ready-made cookies have texture restrictions.
This was definitely a moment of accidental bliss 
Shirley Temple Bunny Bites
Bunny Faces
Samoa Ice Cream Please
The title is supposed to be read “Some more Ice Cream Please”. [move over Carrot Top...NOT]. This week was Girl Scout cookie week as they just hit the streets. First up are Samoas, my favorite Girl Scout Cookie ever. Speaking as a Girl Scout alumni, I had my fair share of Samoa consumption through my formative years. I remember sitting in my living room with my family sorting out boxes of these iconic baked goods. 9 times out of 10, the order was placed by one of my family members which made my sales very easy.
Top three reasons why I love Samoas:
- Caramel.
- Coconut.
- Texture.
Samoa cookie mugshot (stripes and all)
The minute you bite into a samoa it’s like a pinata of flavors and textures that explode in your mouth. At $4 a box, it is on the higher end of the cookie spectrum, but well worth it for the sake of supporting young ladies testing the water of selling and being proud of their accomplishments and goals.
Samoa X-Ray
What’s interesting with samoas is that the inside is a hard cookie but the outer coating of caramel, coconut and chocolate produce a heating blanket that makes the cookie soft. It reminds me of a candy bar more than a cookie…kind of like Snickers cool Hawaiian cousin?
Anyway I just made a simple vanilla base which I think I have nailed by now. I mix brown and white sugar instead of just all white sugar and high five it with some ‘nilla extract. (Still looking for vanilla beans.) No egg yolks were used this time around because I didn’t want a really rich ice cream. I wanted the cookie flavor to blend nicely and not fight through a creamy heap of ice cream.
Delicious Badge: COMPLETE.
I liked the taste, it was exactly what I expected, nothing fancy just a cool nostalgic trip down memory lane. Co-workers were eager to try this one as one actually was on a call and drew a picture of ice cream and wrote “feed me” next to it. I now have it hanging in my cube wall as a reminder that I have a duty to fulfill my co-workers appetite.
Peep Ice Cream Sammies
Peeps: It’s What’s for Easter. Peeps are what candy corn is to Halloween, a necessity. A nostalgic sugar rush drummed up by candy makers since the dawn of man. Ok maybe a little dramatic but we all remember Peeps as the hand-held sticky bond to Easter.
Peep Mugshot
With that said, I wanted to pay homage to the sprinkled bird by incorporating into ice cream. I was playing around with the idea of just cutting up pieces of Peeps and making into a Rocky Road-esk mess but my very creative baking friend suggested an ice cream sandwich….EUREKA/GENIUS! I took her advice and sliced the peeps in half and blanketed a spread of vanilla ice cream.
Decapitated Peeps
It took several attempts to get this sugary Easter bouquet correct. The first time I didn’t refrigerate the peeps and just used them as is…fail. They were too weak to take on the heavy ice cream so it resulted in a squishy eating experience. My co-workers suggested to use a support system a.k.a. a cookie. Then one of my most blunt critics at work suggested to dye coconut green and make a little home for the Peep. DONE.
Happy Peep in the Grass
Pinky the Peep
Note: The level of detail in the Peep eyes has drastically taken a plunge. Check out the Cyclops peeps:
RAWR CYCLOP PEEP WILL EAT YOU!
The aftermath
